Anyone who has ever lived near a firehouse or railroad tracks will tell you that it’s not long before you don’t even hear the noise. And if you sit still, you’ll likely notice routine distractions in your own environment that you’ve been able to tune out, like a neighbor’s lawnmower or your partner’s unceasing petitions to get a dog (the answer is still no). But when the interruption is an urgent plea to donate blood, allowing it to blend into the background could literally cost lives.
Western New York had been experiencing a critical blood shortage for months. It’s not because the need had been underestimated, but as long as there are cancer patients, caesarean deliveries, and trauma victims, to name a few, the need never stops. For our client ConnectLife, WNY’s only community blood center and primary supplier of blood products to the region, the situation begged for them to continue their heightened appeal to donors that they had been communicating for months. However, saying the same thing—no matter how desperately voiced—will eventually yield diminishing returns since those most likely to respond have already done so. And those who haven’t stepped up may believe the situation is someone else’s problem to handle, if they even acknowledge it at all.
We knew the answer to amplifying ConnectLife’s message was not through greater repetition or more prominently calling out the word “urgent” in campaign visuals. That’s because the numbers told us urgency alone wasn’t driving enough donation traffic, and even the most stentorian “pretty please” wouldn’t do the trick. Instead, we recommended pairing the current message with the “why” behind the critical need to make a stronger connection with both the current and potential donor audiences, while using a more direct tone that weakened any excuses behind not donating. Specifically, we had to create a need-driven campaign that could apply consistent pressure on the community to give, but through a variety of messaging that wouldn’t wither with age. The resulting work didn’t abandon ConnectLife’s sentiment of urgency. The power of our marketing existed in its relevance—not its replication.
If your audience isn’t getting the message loud and clear, contact us and we’ll help you turn it up to 11.
